Technology offers tools and information that students need to explore real-world mathematical connections and investigate questions reflecting their own interests. This article illustrates how students can use technology to gather and interpret information, perform descriptive and graphical analysis, make statistical predictions, and create and…

This research focuses on the graphics calculator in calculus and its impact on students' abilities to work with graphical, numerical, and symbolic representations. Three courses are compared, two of which are taught with less emphasis on the use of graphing calculators. The format of the course emphasizing calculator use is more traditional than…

Since 1997 the Ministry of Education in Mexico has been sponsoring a national project in which technology (computers and TI-92 calculators) is used to support the teaching of mathematics at secondary school level (children aged 12 to 15 years old). One of our concerns during this project was to investigate if its implementation affects some of the…

U.S. mathematics education has been criticized for being too broad. This article examines ways middle school students use simple problems and situations to foster a deeper understanding of underlying concepts. Presents a sample area and perimeter problem, describes extending the problem using tiles to determine minimum perimeter, and discusses…

This document features the experiences of three science teachers who video and audiotaped classroom proceedings in order to go back over what was said in classroom events, to explore the intentions and ideas that were perhaps not fully understood at the time. Mary DiSchino, who teaches 3rd and 4th graders, teaches a science curriculum which she…

The article discusses the ways that less successful mathematics students used graphing software with capabilities similar to a basic graphing calculator to solve algebra problems in context. The study is based on interviewing students who learned algebra for 3 years in an environment where software tools were always present. We found differences…

This paper presents an inquiry into teaching and learning practices in a Year 11 mathematics class at a private college for girls in Western Australia, studying a topic on vectors. The focus is on learning through problem-solving, where students used graphics calculators as a matter of routine. Constructivist and sociocultural theories were…

Middle-school students were asked to determine the dimensions of a hotel atrium so that guests could enjoy the maximum area of scenic view, given that 650 feet of brass railing could be used around each floor. Several solution approaches are described. (MKR)

Develops and validates an instrument for determining student preferences for multiple representations of functions and establishes baseline data for future research. Students showed preferences for representations of functions which varied between contextualized and noncontextualized settings. Students' preferences for the two settings were more…

Demonstrates how the uniqueness and anonymity of a student's Social Security number can be utilized to create individualized polynomial equations that students can investigate using computers or graphing calculators. Students write reports of their efforts to find and classify all real roots of their equation. (MDH)

When students are working with hand held technology, such as graphics calculators, we usually only see the outcomes of their activities in the form of a contribution to a written solution of a mathematical problem. It is more difficult to capture their process of thinking or actions as they use the technology to solve a problem. In this paper we…

Some research studies, many of which used quantitative methods, have suggested that graphics calculators can be used to effectively enhance the learning of mathematics. More recently research studies have started to explore students' styles of working as they solve problems with technology. This paper describes the use of a software application…

The objective of this presentation is to focus on the use of a hand-held graphics calculator. The specific machine referred to in this monograph is the Casio fx-7000G, chosen because of its low cost, its large viewing screen, its versatility, and its simple operation. Sections include: (1) "Basic Operations with the Casio fx-7000G"; (2) "Graphical…

Secondary mathematics teachers participated in a problem-solving course in which technology became a means to develop as teachers and as problem solvers. Findings indicate a delineation between technical competence and metatechnology--thinking about how and when to apply technology to particular problems. (PVD)

Discusses solutions to real-world linear particle-motion problems using graphing calculators to simulate the motion and traditional analytic methods of calculus. Applications include (1) changing circular or curvilinear motion into linear motion and (2) linear particle accelerators in physics. (MDH)